Ameira's POV
I woke up to footsteps. Slow. Sharp. Icy. Each step creaked on the basement stairs like a warning from the floor itself.
I didn't have to guess who it was. Only one person wore heels this late at night. Calista. The monster in lipstick. The woman who raised me with claws instead of kindness. I sat up too fast, the ache in my ribs flaring from yesterday's attack. The word THIEF was still etched into my collarbone, inflamed and raw, a cruel brand that refused to fade. She reached the bottom of the stairs, holding a small oil lantern in one hand and a thin riding crop in the other. My stomach turned.
"Did you have fun?" she asked sweetly, her red lips stretched into something that wasn't a smile. "Hmm?"
I didn't answer. I never knew what answer she wanted.
"Six Alphas, Ameira," she said, stepping into the room. "Six. And you managed to stain every single one of them."
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. "I didn't—"
Crack. The riding crop snapped across my leg before I could finish. Pain bloomed fast.
"Don't lie to me," she whispered. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I don't see what you're doing?"
I shook my head, tears springing to my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
"You think just because they stepped into your rat hole, that you have become something more than what you are? You think they'll protect you?"
I shook my head again. Another crack. This time across my back. I choked on a sound—half gasp, half scream.
"You little parasite," she snarled. "I gave you a roof. I gave you food. And this is how you repay me? Seducing six of the most powerful boys in the territory like some desperate little—"
She stopped herself, then smiled again. Her smiles were always worse than her rage.
"Stand up," she ordered.
But I didn't move. She grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet so hard I heard something pop. She pulled me to the corner of the basement, where an old wooden beam stood from when the house was first built. She shoved me against it. Then she chained my wrists to the iron loop bolted to the wood. I didn't know we even had chains down here.
I should've known.
"You're going to stay here," she whispered. "You want attention? Fine. You'll be displayed." She pulled something from the bag she carried a bucket of thick, sticky red paint. My heart dropped. She dipped a brush and began painting on the walls around me.
Big, bold letters.
"WARNING: MATE-STEALER."
"WOLF-SICK."
"UNCLAIMED AND UNWANTED."
Then she turned the brush on me. Slapped it across my chest, my stomach, my legs.
The paint splattered in my hair, my eyes, my mouth. When she finished, she stepped back and admired her work like it was art.
"You will stay here all night. No food and water. And if I hear you so much as whisper, I will rip your tongue out myself." She dropped the lantern on the floor, dimming it just enough to leave me in half-darkness and left. The lock clicked and basement was silent again. I stood there for hours, the chains were tight. My shoulders was burning and my legs were trembling. The dried paint itched against my skin, but I couldn't scratch it. I couldn't sit. I couldn't lie down. And the worst part? She left the door open just a crack. Just enough for passing footsteps to peek in and see me being Humiliated and half-naked.
I heard giggles from upstairs. I knew what they were saying.
Some of the pack members had seen me and they were talking about it. I stayed there all night and by morning, the pain had dulled into something worse numbness.
When the door opened again, I didn't lift my head. I expected to see her again coming in with another torture tools, but it wasn't Calista. It was them. The six Alphas again.
They didn't say anything at first, they just stared at me.
Then one of them Ace walked up and touched the word painted on my chest.
Mate-Stealer. He frowned.
"Who did this?" he asked.
I laughed a bitter and empty laugh. He already knew who did it to me and why is he pretending not to know?"
"She did, my stepmom I said hoarsely. "You all gave her the reason."
He said nothing. The others stood behind him, eyes unreadable. I was still chained and till trembling.
"You shouldn't be here," I whispered. "She will kill me if she sees you."
"No," Ace said quietly. "She'll have to go through us."
And for the first time
"What does he mean that she will go through them first?
They were the ones that rejected me and now the want to play the savior card